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Department of Art & Art History

Visual Resource Center

The Providence College Visual Resource Center is at the very heart of the Department of Art and Art History. The VRC provides unique research resources to students and faculty and also offers work study positions to interested students.

Research

Students and faculty from all disciplines across campus are welcome to research in the Visual Resource Center. Although video/dvd and print materials in the collection are non-circulating, these collections can be utilized in house for research. In addition to the collection of research resources, the VRC also houses the offices of the faculty of Art History. There is a private reading area designed for students to study and conduct their research.

The Visual Resource Center staff provide orientation and training to students and faculty for all aspects of the use of digital images in the classroom. We offer training in the use of our online image database and presentation tools such as PowerPoint.

Electronic Resources

The VRC holds a collection of over 8,000 copyright compliant digital images viewable in Shared Shelf which is part of Artstor.

The Providence College Library subscribes to the following image databases:

Video/DVD Collection

The library houses some 700 video/dvd resources. Videos and dvds can be viewed at a media station in the VRC. This is a non-circulating collection. To access a searchable list of our Video/DVD collection, see link below.

Slide Collection

The VRC holds a collection of over 85,000 slide images of art, architecture, maps and other visual aids. This collection is available to students (research only , non circulating) and to faculty for use in classroom presentations and projects. We are able to provide a slide scanner to convert the slides to digital format.

Additional Collections and Resources

The library also houses over 2,500 books, scholarly journals, magazines, and other volumes on a range of topics. The VRC has a copy stand that can be used to photograph flat work.

There are eight computer work stations (PC and MAC) which can be reserved during select hours. Each computer is equipped with Photoshop and Adobe Acrobat, and training in computer programs is available upon request.

Two flatbed scanners and a copy machine are available for general use. A resource station is also present in the VRC with information about internships, graduate programs and fellowships.

Student Work Opportunities

Art and Art History students are welcome to apply for work study positions within the Department. They may work as an aid to Studio Art professors, or obtain a position as a Art Lab Technician in the Visual Resource Center. Students gain real world experience working on our web page, photographing images for the department, cataloguing images of artwork or aiding Art History professors in their research and writing projects. These positions give students the opportunity to work closely with their professors and to take an active part in the research being undertaken by the faculty of Providence College.

History

The foundations of the VRC’s collection were laid by the Reverend Lawrence M. Hunt O.P., Ph. D, who worked tirelessly to build up resources for the Department during his 44 years as an educator at PC. Hunt-Cavanagh Hall, where the VRC is located, is named in his honor for this reason. The collection that was begun by Father Hunt has been expanded greatly in recent years and now touches on numerous areas of interest including Architecture, the Arts of Asia, Modern Art, Classical Greece, Medieval Manuscripts, and Sacred Space. There are also volumes on technical instruction for studio artists, reference works, faculty publications, and senior thesis journals from past classes.